Congress accuses governor of ‘facilitating horse trading’ in JK

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Srinagar: Congress state president Ghulam Ahmad Mir along with senior party leader addressing a press conference regarding dissolution of Assembly,in Srinagar on Thursday, Nov 22, 2018 . PTI Photo by Umar Ganie
Srinagar, Nov 22: Calling Governor Staya Pal Malik’s move to dissolve legislative assembly as “undemocratic”, State Congress on Thursday said the trend of targeting groups in mainstream political parties by BJP coupled with the uncertainty over Article 35-A forced them to think about grand alliance.
Addressing a press conference here, the State Congress President , G A Mir, accused the Governor  of keeping the House in suspended animation to “facilitate horse trading” by the BJP and its allies to form the government.
“Former Governor N N Vohra sought a little time for dissolving the Assembly. But the current Governor kept the Assembly in suspended animation and was waiting for the combination of BJP and its allies to take over the government,” he said.
“He (Governor) followed BJP’s direction from New Delhi and facilitated its rule in some areas of the state through indirect means. His move to dissolve assembly questions his institution, government and entire political system of India,” Mir added.
The state Congress president accused the Governor for equally facilitating the entire process of cobbling up the number of MLAs to 50 for BJP.
“BJP had 25 MLAs, Peoples Conference had two MLAs and outside support from one or two independent MLAs. The Governor actually wanted the score to cobble up to 50 MLAs,” he said.
Saying entering into alliance was an “uphill task” for all the parties, Mir said the decision was taken for “overall welfare of the state.”
“We left our party ideologies aside and considered welfare of state to find a viable alternative. There was no power gaining as PDP had highest number and CM candidate was to be chosen by them,” he said.
“Congress has a history of giving sacrifices for the state. In 1975 an elected house was given to Sheikh Sahab and PDP which was new party in 2002 was prioritized. Today, we were expecting a call from Governor from Raj Bhavan, but  the entire process stalled before reaching to that level,” Mir added.
Over allegations leveled by BJP senor leader against these party for being dictated by Pakistan, State Congress chief asked the BJP to either apologise or prove their claims with evidences.
“It is your (BJP) government, you have all the institutions, the CBI, the NIA, the IB, the Governor and the RAW. Prove your allegations before the country if you have any proof or else you have to apologise,” he said.
The JKPCC president alleged that the BJP was in the habit of labeling its opponents as “anti-nationals.”
“Those who stand by the policies of the BJP are declared nationalist, while those who reject it are dubbed as anti-nationals and pro-Pakistani. Who has given you this right?” Mir asked.
On allegation of the NC-PDP- Congress didn’t represent Jammu and Ladakh regions of the state, he said they had members from each of these regions.
 “If this combination (NC-PDP-Congress) would have been allowed, it had an equal composition from the two regions. Still did you (BJP) propose a single candidate as a chief ministerial candidate when you got majority in Jammu region? Or, did you propose a chief ministerial candidate for any combination?
The state Congress Chief sought response from BJP over surrendering before Kashmir centric parties each time.
 “Even now your plan (for forming government) was via Kashmir (with Lone). I would have appreciated you, had you shown any courage and brought forward a NJP face from Jammu,” he said.
Asked whether they would move to the court against the Governor’s decision to dissolve the Assembly, he said, “PDP was the single party with majority and they were to head the coalition. We offer our support to them in case they want to move to the court against the decision.

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